14 Facts About Bert Bonanno

Bert Salvatore Bonanno is an American track and field coach and sports administrator who has produced numerous Olympic champions and world-record holders.

Bert Bonanno was playing racquetball with Winter at the TAC Annual Meeting when Winter suffered his fatal heart attack, one day before his induction into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

At San Jose State, Bert Bonanno led the freshmen team to two national track and field championships.

Bert Bonanno recruited hammer thrower national champion Ed Burke, who went on to compete in three Olympics and was the flag-bearer for the United States at the 1984 Olympic Games.

From 1964 to 1968, Bert Bonanno was the head coach of the Mexican track and field team.

At the height of the Cold War, and with the Olympic Games so close to the US border, the suspicious Central Intelligence Agency recruited Bert Bonanno to provide information on the coaches they suspected were undercover agents.

Bert Bonanno worked as a liaison between the Mexican officials and 3M in 1968, the year the first artificial track was installed for Olympic competition.

In 1969, Bert Bonanno became the head coach at San Jose City College, where he established a world-class track and field program.

From 1973 to 1996, Bert Bonanno served as director of the Bruce Jenner Classic Track and Field Classic, which grew into one of the top international events.

Bert Bonanno co-founded the Mercury News 10K Race and served as meet director for the 1984 and 1987 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at San Jose City College.

Bert Bonanno served as the US coach at the 1981 Pan Pacific Games in Auckland, New Zealand, and the 1989 Indoor World Championships in Athletics in Budapest.

Bert Bonanno was the head coach for Peru at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and coached athletes from Hungary, New Zealand and Scotland from the 1970s to 1990s.

Bert Bonanno was inducted into the California Community College Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1986 and twenty years later, inducted star pupil Millard Hampton into the hall.

Bert Bonanno was elected into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.